soft clutch

[sdcat]

I am out at the ROVAL today, and experienced a soft clutch feel and difficulty shifting towards the end of the last session. I am going to troubleshoot it and get back out on track. It is an R500 with a Caterham 6 speed.

Thanks for suggestions,

Justin

[slomove]

soft clutch you mean like slipping?

[sdcat]

Thanks for the call Doug. Because of the way the nipple is set in the Bell housing, I can't get a wrench on it to bleed it. The clutch still isn't fully disengaging after it has cooled, and the pedal still feels soft. Maybe something with the throwout bearing. As much as I don't want to pull it all apart and look at it, that's probably the wise thing to do. I am going to call it a day. Thanks again for the advice.

[moosetestbestanden]

Sounds like Doug is saying it's hydraulics. I concur as I've experienced the same symptoms you're describing. Bleeding mine did the trick.

[sdcat]

Thanks, Chris. I'll try bleeding them before I take it in, but I still have to figure out how to loosen the nipple without bleed down onto the clutch plates. The nipple is off to the side of the hole, so I haven't found a socket that will fit in there. And when I do, I can't see how to have a drain tube on it while I loosen and tighten it.

[Doug Liedblad]

Along with the annular throwout bearing he has a bleeder that is too short to access easily.

There is no excuse for putting a car together such that normal maintenance is a problem. Unless you're Detroit.


He called after and said he can see 'fuzzy' stuff inside so it may be more of a problem than bleeding the clutch.

He's done several track days and this suddenly started which again points to a bigger problem than air in the line.

[Sean]

Mine has the bleed nipple mounted in the hole, such that the whole thing is external to the bellhousing, and the fitting for the braided hose to the clutch pedal cylinder mounted similarly in the other hole. Access is straightforward and about as unrestricted as anything can be in the engine compartment of a Seven.



Yours appears to me to have been assembled in an undesirable configuration. I don't see how the hydraulic fluid could have been put in originally unless it was done before the engine was mated to the bellhousing.

[moosetestbestanden]

Oh. Yeah. I forgot that it's a different transmission than the T9.

Engine out then. Ouch.

Edit: Do you have the sequential?

Double edit: I agree w/ Sean. If you have to do major surgery here try to modify that bleed nipple arrangement so that a bleed is easy in future. When I did mine it was possible but awkward and more difficult than it should be. So I'll be doing the same during the engine swap. Whenever that is... (Sean & i are racing to see who takes the longest! :D)

[Doug Liedblad]

Sean

That's the way it should be.

I like your top mounted fill hole for the tranny too.

I've done this myself and use an O2 bung and plug. Get the one with a slight lip on it and weld or braze in.

The first time I filled the transmission I made a dipstick to check the level.

You can suck the oil out thru this too.

[moosetestbestanden]

Doug did the same for me when I had to do a swap a while ago. But the CC 6 speed gearbox is different from the T9 so I don't know if that mod will be quite so straight forward.

[sdcat]

Thanks for the input, guys. I did some surfing on blatchat, and found some others who've had problems accessing the bleeder valve on recent duratec builds. Other than pulling the engine and placing an extension on the valve, the solution they used was to drill out a socket so that it would go over the valve and have room for tubing down the middle, then turning the socket with a vise-grip. I'll see if I can come up with something like that, to rule out air in the line before going any further.

Thanks,

Justin

[Elv15]

If you're going to drill out the socket, you might as well grind some flats on the outside and use an open end wrench instead of vice grips.

[Doug Liedblad]

I forgot that they have an aluminun top cover, I thought I'd seen one with the fill plug built into it.

[Mondo]

Yeah, looks like they could of taken another step to make at nice as Sean's when they built it (at least a bigger opening). Hopefully your steel hydraulic line won't chaffe coming out of that hole.

[moosetestbestanden]

Mine is similar to Sean's, but older and dirtier :-O ISTR bleeding mine fairly easily the 2 times I've done it but it could be improved on. Sean, is yours the Raceline bellhousing or the Titan?